Braggot Beef Stew and Dumplings

First off while this is a great stew, it's Braggot not braggart!  Braggot is a sort of half beer half mead alcoholic drink.  I've often toyed with the idea of making a braggot but I've been reluctant since I've had poor luck with meads.  My melomels have turned out better but the other reason is that frankly honey seems pretty expensive for something I might not even like.   I was in the liquor store and happened across a commercial Braggot so I thought I'd try a couple of bottles.  I drank one and used the other to make a great beef stew.

Braggot Beef Stew

500mL braggot
500mL water
2 pounds stew beef
5-6 tbsp flour
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic
2 cups baby carrots
2 red onions
1 cup chopped mushrooms
2 tbsp seasoned rice wine vinegar
Oil for frying

Combine the flour, salt, pepper and garlic.  Dredge the meat in the flour mixture.  Fry the meat until the flour has browned on all sides.  In a dutch oven combine the water and the braggot on medium low heat.  Place the browned meat in the dutch oven along with the carrots and mushrooms.  Fry the onions on high heat for 5-7 minutes, add the rice wine vinegar and turn the heat to medium low and caramelize the onions.  Add the onions to the stew and simmer for a couple of hours stirring occasionally.  About fifteen minutes before serving make the dumplings.

Dumplings

1cup flour
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 baking soda

Combine the dry ingredients, separately whisk together the eggs and milk.  Slowly mix the wet and dry ingredients until the flour is wetted.  Drop walnut sized pieces of batter into the simmering stew, keep the dumplings well separated and cook covered for 10-15 minutes.  The dumplings can be a bit dry so optionally you can add 1tsp to 1tbsp of oil to the wet ingredients.  If you have double acting baking powder then omit the baking soda and increase the baking powder to 2 tsp.